SARs - Fees for copying

[Guest Julie Silverstein]

Participants are required to get an SAR, which gives them the option of requesting a copy of the full annual report. The SAR wording per the Labor Regs says, "The charge to cover copying costs will be $XXX for the full annual report, or $XXX per page for any part thereof." Other Labor Regs say that these charges should be reasonable, but not to exceed $0.25 per page. We have always been indicating a $3 charge for the total report. I don't know if we made this up, or if it was decreed by a power-that-be (or that-was), or if it just seemed reasonable for a 5500-C. However, now that annual reports can run into dozens of pages, especially with a Schedule B or a Schedule D, $3 no longer seems "reasonable."

What is anyone else showing for the charge for a full report? Does this vary on a case by case basis depending on the size of the report? Any thoughts are appreciated!

[bzorc]

I used to work for a consulting firm that would actually count the number of pages a person could conceivably receive when asking for a full report and then multiply that by 25 cents. Therefore, the total cost would differ by each plan.

Currently, we use $5.00 or 25 cents per page.

[david rigby]

I think you need to be careful. My recollection is that the regs permit you to charge your cost, but not more than 25 cents per page.

[Guest meggie]

I agree with pax (i.e. a reasonable fee but no more than 25 cents per page) but I would like to add that if it only costs the plan sponsor $1.50 to copy one entire report, the plan sponsor cannot charge more than $1.50 in total for the full report or any part thereof, subject to the max 25 cents per page.